Team Seven: Shinobi At War
by Wikibeats
Summary: Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh. Tensions with Iwa had passed the point of no-return it seemed. War was looming. What was worse, Kakashi reflected, was that he was being tasked with instigating it. Dark, Danzou-ish shinobi world. Team Seven-centric. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh. Tensions with Iwa had passed the point of no-return it seemed. War was looming. What was worse, Kakashi reflected, was that he was being tasked with instigating it. The Sandaime had insisted that his ploy was the best chance they had of preventing war, but Kakashi suspected it would only further stoke the flame of Iwa's hatred for the Leaf.

Kakashi couldn't help but watch the children playing in the street as he passed them with a pang of regret, in a year they will have forgotten the sound of laughter.

Kakashi pulled out his favorite copy of Icha Icha Paradise, which had been signed by the legendary Jiraiya-sama, and immersed himself in the plight of Yukie-chan trying to warm her heart in the Land of Snow. Kakashi absently noted that he was a full three hours late to his meeting with the apparently bellicose Hokage.

'He can wait,' Kakashi thought. 'Yukie-chan on the other hand is in dire need…' He giggled silently behind his mask. Yes, the Hokage could wait. After all, this would be the last time Kakashi would be able to stroll through the village at peace if everything went according to plan.

The streets were bustling with happy, ignorant villagers. A group of children were playing a ball game. Several vendors were calling out to the crowd hoping to inveigle some patronage. A man was cleaning orange paint off of what Kakashi assumed was his store while muttering to himself about demons and pranksters. Kakashi took it all in; the smell of the village at peace: Pine, Birchwood, burning asphalt, wet paint, window cleaner, a little sweat, dandelion and sakura, steel, and freshly baked dough. The laughter of innocent youth, playful and sometimes mean-spirited, but full of life, rang like sirens in Kakashi's eardrum. It was almost too much. Kakashi caught himself sliding his hand down toward his kunai holster, and instead carefully redirected the offending appendage into his pocket while flipping the next page adroitly with only one hand.

Kakashi tried to return his attention to Yukie-chan and the prince who had just rescued her from a hundred thousand Jounin bandits, but his mind kept wandering to the memorial stone and the three names he would undoubtedly be adding to it; four, if he counted himself. An hour prior Kakashi had traced his finger over Obito's name. He had a bitter taste in his mouth that even Icha Icha couldn't satiate.

Finally he arrived in the Sandaime's office. The secretary nodded him in without a second glance.

"Ah, Kakashi, you're here." The Sandaime said. If he was bothered by Kakashi's lateness he didn't show it. The wrinkles in his face grew and contracted as he blinked.

"Sorry I walked past the Yamanaka Flower Shop but it was closed." Kakashi said.

The room was silent as the Hokage seemed to contemplate the nonsensical excuse. After several puffs of his pipe, the aged legend nodded. "Shall we get down to business then?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Unsurprisingly the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi Clan Head's didn't approve of the idea of their children being used as 'fodder,' as they phrased it."

Kakashi nodded. His first choice had been the second generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho combination, but that had always been a stretch. They were the only team Kakashi felt had a chance of survival, which would have been optimal, but the pragmatist in Kakashi had known that their influential fathers would shut down the idea of the three Genin's involvement down. The Sandaime's plan required a team with flawless teamwork, and those three Genin were probably the best chance Konoha had of accomplishing that.

"And Hiashi-sama?"

"He wanted your head for even suggesting his daughter be involved in our ploy."

'When did this become _our _ploy?' Kakashi thought.

"So who are the unlucky three?" Kakashi sighed. Either these three would spark the Fourth Great Shinobi War, or they would die mercilessly in enemy territory. Probably the latter.

"Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto."

It made sense. Haruno's parents were both civillians, although her father had attended the Academy. They had no real clout in the inner-workings of the village. The Uchiha and Uzumaki had no parents to protest their children's involvement with Sarutobi's plan. 'Our plan,' Kakashi reminded himself with a sad half-smile. The three Genin still technically had to accept the plan as an A-ranked mission, but it would not be too hard to convince them to; the young were very easily manipulated.

"Very well, Hokage-sama." 'Forgive me, Minato.'

The Sandaime passed Kakashi four scrolls. Kakashi immediately unsealed the largest of the scrolls, revealing his old ANBU uniform complete with his old Inu mask. He slipped the mask over his face with practiced grace. It felt natural against his skin.

A frown depressed itself upon the Sandaime's weary visage. "I never wanted to see you in that mask again."

"Hokage-sama."

"But the shadow of war looms over this village, and you, Inu, and your Genin squad, must baptize Iwagakure in blood."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

The Sandaime nodded once and immediately Kakashi disappeared in a smokeless Shunshin.

Sarutobi grimaced into the silence of his office as he thought of the necessary evil he was about commit. 'Forgive me, Minato.'

"Beginning today all of you are real ninjas. However you are still merely Genin, the hard part has just started. Now, you will soon be assigned duties by the village, so we will be creating 3 man teams. Each team will be led by a Jounin sensei. Now, Team One…

"…Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Team Eight: Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino your Jounin sensei will be Yūhi Kurenai…

"Okay now you all have a lunch break before you are introduced to your Jounin instructors, except for Team Seven, you guys have to head over to Training Ground 3 right now."

Naruto, upset at being denied his favorite meal of the day, voiced his outrage. "What the hell Iruka-sensei! Why do all the other kids get lunch but an outstanding ninja like me has to go without?" Iruka sighed. The graduates slowly filed out, some curious as to Iruka's reply, others totally oblivious to all but the allure of food and the excitement of finally becoming ninja. Nauto, Sasuke, and Sakura however, sat glued to their seats, all eager to learn why they were being denied such a basic commodity as lunch.

"Your Jounin-sensei must have some influence with Hokage-sama is all I can say, this ritual is pretty standard, so your Jounin instructor must be pretty important. I'd say you three lucked out." Iruka smiled.

"Yata!" Naruto yelled, immediately forgetting his anger and punching his fist up into the air in a show of his excitement. Sakura was holding her hand in a fist as well, obviously pleased with the answer. Even Sasuke had a small smile on his face and a glint of satisfaction in his eyes.

"Let's go Sakura-chan!" Naruto reached out to grab her hand, but was repelled by her fist smashing through his face and was sent flying to the other side of the room.

"Baka!"

"Hn." Sasuke stood up and walked out the door. Sakura looked at Naruto's crushed form and admired her handiwork for a second, before realizing that Sasuke was leaving and quickly chased after him.

"Wait for me Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto slowly recovered from the traumatizing blow, stood up, and shook himself off, grumbling about scary women and broken bones. In a sudden moment of clarity Naruto realized that Sakura had long since left and hurried after her.

"Wait for me Sakura-chan!"

The trio arrived at Training Ground three roughly half an hour later, having walked at there at a leisurely pace in a subtle attempt to let their sensei know that they were upset with their lack of lunch. Sakura was desperately trying to catch Sasuke's attention while Naruto tried to put down the Uchiha while simultaneously vying for Sakura's attention. This of course would only invoke Sakura's wrath, which resulted into a quite bruised Naruto by the time the three made it to the clearing.

Training Ground Three was a rather large clearing with a wide river on one side, three stumps in the center of the clearing, and what Sakura recognized to be the Memorial Stone towards the far corner of the field. An ANBU officer was leaning against the right post, apparently watching the three Genin approach. When they were within speaking distance he straightened himself and spoke. "You're late."

"We aren't late you bastard we came straight here from the academy and didn't even ea—" Naruto was cut off from his tirade from Sakura's fist reuniting itself with the back of his head.

"Naruto, don't speak to ANBU-san like that. Sorry, ANBU-san, it won't happen again." Sakura bowed slightly to the ANBU officer who hadn't moved an inch since greeting them. Sasuke just stared at the ANBU with apparent boredom, but a skilled professional would have easily noticed the silent gleam of excitement in his eyes and the nervous tension in his legs.

"Sakura-chan, you didn't have to hit me! I was just standing up to this bastard for you!" Naruto complained.

"Naruto you idiot!" Sakura shouted as she hit the blond with considerable force in the back of his head. "Show some respect!" Naruto brushed himself off then frowned stubbornly before sticking his tongue out at the ANBU.

Naruto was about to respond when the ANBU officer spoke. "Normally, Genin fresh out of the Academy are given a test to determine if they are truly capable of becoming Shinobi. At most, three of the nine teams will pass and become full-fledged Genin while the rest are sent back to the academy for a supplementary year."

"What!? No fair ANBU-san, I can't go back to the academy! I barely passed as it was! Naruto protested.

"You three, however, have caught Hokage-sama's attention. He wishes to assign you three an A-class mission starting tomorrow. If you choose to accept your mission, you will automatically pass this test."

"Yata!" Naruto shouted, already forgetting his prior indignation. "Did you hear that Sakura-chan? We automatically pass and get a super cool A-ranked mission because we are so awesome. It's too bad Sasuke is on this team too huh, he's probably just going to drag us down."

"What was that, dead-last?" Sasuke responded coolly, his eyes never leaving the ANBU officer in front of them. It was strange how much room the man was allowing them for conversation. In Sasuke's past experiences with ANBU they had been straight to the point, allowing no room for debate or discussion. They put the mission above all else, which meant that this ANBU officer's current mission was probably to get them to agree to take on this A-ranked mission, it was the only explanation. What Sasuke could not understand was why the Hokage himself was not telling them of their opportunity to partake in an A-ranked mission fresh out of the Academy. 'There must be something I'm missing,' Sasuke thought. His eyes narrowed at the ANBU officer.

"What's the catch?" Sakura asked, cutting off Naruto's attempt at a rebuttle. She as well had come to the realization that something was amiss with situation, Sasuke noted.

"It is very dangerous. Hokage-sama chose you three specifically because of all of the rookie Geinin teams, Team Seven is only one that has even a chance at success. Hokage-sama is counting on you." The Inu masked ANBU said.

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at that. Of course his team would be picked for this dangerous mission, he was after all, a genius. Naruto's grin threatened to split his face in half and even Sakura was supporting a small smile, though she was obviously ruffled by the apparent risk.

"What's the mission?" Naruto asked. "Do we have to save a princess from a demon or something?"

The ANBU officer remained completely still. "The mission itself is an S-ranked secret, and actually is comprised of two parts. Understand that everything you are about to hear is an S-ranked secret, and if you are caught distributing this information to anyone, even your family or the diary you keep under you bed, you will be executed. This remains true even if you do not accept this mission. Do you understand?"

"Y-Yeah." Sakura managed to make out, shocked at how quickly the conversation had turned deathly serious.

"Good. From here on out you will refer to me as Taicho. When I ask a yes-or-no question, you will respond with: 'Hai Taicho!' Do you understand?"

"H-Hai Taicho."

"Hn."

"What if the answer to your question is no?"

A wave of killing intent washed over the three Genin. In an instant they saw themselves die a thousand deaths, each more brutal than the next. Sakura began shake uncontrollably and cried, Sasuke dropped to his knees and threw up his breakfast, silently thankful that he had not eaten lunch, and Naruto fell backwards, frozen in place for a moment before joining Sasuke in puking up his breakfast. Slowly the three recovered and shook themselves off, realizing they were still alive after all.

"Holy shit, what was that?" Naruto managed to ask weakly.

"You will refer to me as Taicho. When I ask a yes-or-no question, you will respond with: 'Hai Taicho!' Do you understand?" The Inu masked ANBU repeated.

"Hai Taicho." The three mumbled in poor unison.

"Do you understand?" It was not a question, it was an invitation to pain.

"Hai Taicho." It was a slightly better attempt, Kakashi admitted to himself, although it was still pretty disappointing.

"Good. The first part of this mission is a 6 month training excursion, in which I teach you three how to operate as a team and cultivate your individual skills beyond what you thought you were capable of."

That peaked the Genin's interests, six months of training with an ANBU sounded pretty good.

"Genin teams are normally required to perform D-ranked missions to improve teamwork and team coordination while slowly improving team member's individual skills, however, you three will forgo this probationary D-ranked mission period. Instead you will train intensively with me outside of the village for six months, at the end of which, each of you will be promoted to the rank of Chūnin should you complete the second part of the mission; competing in the Chūnin Exams in Iwa. No other Genin from Konohagakure will be given the opportunity to advance, or even participate in this Exam. You will be the only team from Konoha to participate."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Something was definitely wrong, why would Konoha only send one team into Iwa to compete in the Chūnin Exams.

"Why only send one team Taicho?" Sakura asked, obviously thinking along the same lines as Sasuke.

"This is an A-ranked mission. And our sending of only one team, as well as this entire conversation, are considered S-ranked secrets, I feel compelled to remind you. Tensions with Iwa have long since passed their boiling point. War is imminent. We imagine that Iwa will use the Chūnin Exams as a chance to preemptively strike us, killing as many of our promising Genin as they can under the guise of the Exam so when, and if, we retaliate it will appear as if we are attacking unprovoked and Iwa will likely gain the sympathy of Kuso, which is an essential buffer between the Land of Fire and the Land of Stone."

"So you're just sending us to the slaughter? Why send any Genin at all?" Sakura demanded, on the point of hysterics.

"We are still technically allied with Iwa, and sending a Genin team is a sign of good will. As to sending you to the slaughter, you have the completely wrong idea. I am going to dedicate the next six months of my life to transforming each of you into capable assassins. You are not being sent to the slaughter, you are going to be the harbingers of it. Each of you will be strong on your own. However, I will train you to operate flawlessly as a team, and together you will accomplish things that would be impossible for any of you individually. You leave a bloody trail through Iwa that will force them to seriously reconsider ever challenging Konoha again."

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk, he would be getting personalized training from an ANBU for six consecutive months, and then he would get to test his potential against enemy nin in live combat. This couldn't have gone better for him. Still, he assumed he would have to convince his teammates to accept as well. Luckily they would both be pretty easy to manipulate, Sakura would follow him to ends of the earth with her crush, and the dobe could be challenged into it without any trouble.

"Ne, Taicho, why only send one team though?" Naruto asked.

"Sakura, answer him."

"Hai Taicho. I think it's because it sends a statement. Think about it, most of the Genin participating will probably be much older and more experienced Genin right? Well when they hear that Konoha has only sent one team of rookie Genin—and of course we will release that information, because why else would the Hokage choose us—they will think we are sacrificial lambs waiting to be killed. And then when we blow through the Exam it will make Iwa think twice before engaging Konoha, according to Taicho. Was I right?"

"Pretty much, anything to add Sasuke?"

Sasuke thought about for a minute. "Merchants often watch the Chūnin Exams, when they see how well a single team of rookie Konoha Genin do, it will surely increase Konoha's revenue as well as our standing with Daimyo." Sasuke had actually visited the finals of a Chūnin Exam with his father when he was still alive and remembered his father talking about the political and economic ramifications of the exams. "Also, the village probably loses a lot of revenue by taking an ANBU-member out of active duty for six months, it would be stupid to hurt our economy any more than we currently are in case war breaks out."

"Oh, that makes sense." Naruto smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of neck.

"I want you three to notice that even in this conversation you have demonstrated the benefit of teamwork. Naruto noticed a discrepancy, which Sakura was able to analyze to an extent at which point Sasuke was able to finish the analysis. Each of you possess a different skill set and perceive the world in different ways, combining your efforts, even in such a small act as conversation, can lead to brilliant results. Do you understand?"

"Hai Taicho." Team Seven said in awkward unison.

"Good. Any other questions before I continue?" The Inu masked ANBU asked. Sakura hesitantly raised a hand. "Yes?"

"Um…Taicho, isn't there a chance that sending us in there and having us essentially humiliate Iwa will only further provoke war?" Naruto and Sasuke looked at their teammate, completely missing this pretty obvious potential consequence.

"Yes. That is why each of you will be responsible for bringing me the heads of twenty foreign ninja."


	2. Chapter 2

"Yes. That is why each of you will be responsible for bringing me the heads of twenty foreign ninja."

"…"

"Huh?"

"Ideally Iwa-nin, although any foreign ninja will due." The Inu-masked ANBU said calmly.

"Wh-why do we have to kill them? And why s-so many?"

"Well, I generate an average of ten confirmed kills per month for Konoha. So really, it's just you three paying me back for the time I'm going to waste training you."

"Oi! What the hell?!" Naruto shouted.

"Taichou," Sakura interjected. "Why is training us a waste of time, don't we play a pretty important in this whole plan?"

"Ah, you are correct Sakura. It is not a total loss, I misspoke."

'He did no such thing.' Sasuke thought, eyes narrowed at the ANBU behind the Inu mask. Something didn't add up. Sasuke searched the black eye-slits for answers but found nothing. There was a reason the village assigned Jounin sensei to teach Genin teams, it was obviously economically viable. It may take several years of potentialally higher-ranked missions away from the Jounin-Sensei, but the village made up for that loss of potential revenue through a lifetime of missions completed by the Genin pupils, who would eventually take on teams of their own. But from the way the ANBU made it out, they were paying for their training with more than just a lifetime of servitude for the village…it wasn't right. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. 'He thinks we're going to die.'

"However, Hokage-sama demands twenty confirmed kills from each of you during this exam. Am I clear?"

"H-Hai T-Taichou."

"Hai Taichou-teme."

"Hn."

There was a moment of complete silence while Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura contemplated what they had just said. The memory of the last time they had failed to please the ANBU was less than pleasant and none of them wanted to experience that level of killing intent ever again. Sakura gulped. Naruto began to sweat. Sasuke shifted his weight to his heels unconsciously, as if trying to distance himself from the currently statuesque ANBU.

The ANBU's hand trailed slowly into his kunai pouch. The clearing was dead silent, as if even the wind was afraid of the masked man who seemed to tower over the team of Genin hopefuls. Three pairs of eyes were glued to the ANBU's hand, obstructed in the depths of his weapons pouch. Naruto could feel the air around him thicken and swallowed harshly in dread.

"Am I clear?"

"Hai Taichou." The three responded.

"Good." Kakashi pulled out his limited-edition Icha Icha Paradise novel and lifted it to his eyes. "Will you honor your village and the Sandaime, who has put his faith in you, or will you run away?" He said from behind his erotic novel of choice, with a nonchalance in his voice that gave the Genin the impression that he couldn't care less about their response. However, hidden from view, his eye narrowed intensely as he inspected his soon-to-be team.

Sasuke grit his teeth at the blatant manipulation. He doubted Naruto or Sakura even realized they had a choice in the matter. He considered refusing right there, just to stick it to the cocky ANBU. But six months of dedicated training from one of the village's elite was too much for him to pass up. He would prove the man wrong; he would survive.

"I accept." Sasuke said.

"I accept!" Naruto followed Sasuke immediately. Naruto's chest was sticking out, and Sasuke could see the childish pride he was experiencing written clearly on his whiskered face. 'That dobe.'

"I accept." Sakura said, almost dejectedly. It was obvious she was struggling with whole 'kill 20 people' line. Sasuke couldn't really blame her.

"Good." The ANBU officer said from behind his book. He sounded surprisingly detached for a man who had all but sent three children to their deaths. 'Maybe that's why he's detached.' Sasuke mused.

"Take these," The ANBU said, throwing a storage scroll to each of the Genin with one fluid toss. "Those scrolls contain your clothes and equipment for the next six months. Don't lose them. Meet here at six-o-clock sharp tomorrow morning. Say your goodbyes, you may never see your family again."

All three Genin knew that last comment was directed at Sakura.

"Where are we going?" Naruto had never been outside of the village before and was entirely excited about finally leaving its gates.

"Don't worry about that." Kakashi said dismissively before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Eh? Why does he have to be such an asshole, right Sakura-chan?" Naruto flashed his signature 'goofy-grin' at his longtime crush.

"Sakura-chan?"

She was staring at the storage scroll in her arms, shaking uncontrollably. Tears were beginning to form at the corners of her eyes and her lips were three shades too pail for a human being.

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong? Did that asshole do the death-intent thingy again or something? 'Cause if he did I sw—"

"Shut up dobe. Let her be."

"No! She needs my help!"

"She doesn't want your help, baka, she wants to be alone."

"Does not!"

A noise escaped from Sakura's mouth and the two boys paused their argument to watch her as she struggled to form her words.

"H…How? H-How can you to be so calm about this? He—Taichou—said we could die! And you don't even give it a second thought!

"Are you crazy or something?! Did you hit your heads really, really hard when you were young, or do you just not care about dying? Even if you guys don't have parents there are still people who care about you!"

Sakura gasped and covered her mouth. "Oops. Sorry."

There was a long silence then. No one moved, even the normally indifferent Sasuke seemed shaken by Sakura's words.

Finally, Naruto spoke.

"Ne, Sakura, you're right." Naruto smiled at her. It wasn't his usual 'goofy-grin,' it seemed sadder and carried a surprisingly mature weight with it.

"And it's for the people who care about me, Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiji and Ayame-neechan and her old man, that I accepted this mission. I want to protect them no matter what! They are counting on me, and I won't let them down."

"Hn." Sasuke left the training ground, he didn't want to spend any more time around these idiots. Sasuke didn't have time for people who 'cared' about him. No, his entire existence was dedicated erasing his brother's.

Naruto left as well, heading back to the academy so he could make Iruka-sensei treat him to some ramen. He glanced back at Sakura and waved. She just stared after him, unmoving.

Sakura was left alone in the clearing. Idly, she walked over to the memorial stone and traced her fingers across several of the names etched into it. She wondered if anyone bothered to read the stone; she never had. If her name was carved here, would her parents leave flowers? Would Ino stop by and catch Sakura up on the village's latest gossip? Maybe she'd drag Shikamaru and Chouji along with her.

Naruto's words rang in her head "_I want to protect them no matter what!" _She was a ninja now, she knew it was her duty to protect the village, but still… She wasn't ready to die.

Maybe she just wouldn't show up tomorrow, it wasn't too late. She could run.

'No,' she thought. 'I accepted this mission, and I will see it through to the end, no matter what.' Sakura sighed to herself and stared blankly at the Memorial Stone, not really seeing it. It was dusk before Sakura managed to compose herself and return home.

"You're late!" Blondie and the Pinky shouted in unison. It was 6:02. Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh. These kids had no idea.

"Naruto, put this in your pack for me." Kakashi said as he threw Naruto a steel canteen.

"Huh, what's this for?"

Kakashi smirked behind his old Inu mask. "Just hold on to it for a bit, you'll be using it soon enough."

Naruto just nodded absently and shrugged to himself as he tossed the canteen into his pack.

Kakashi had immediately noticed that each of them had brought a travel-pack, although Kakashi could only guess at what was actually inside of them. Kakashi would save the disappointing reality of his students' shortcomings for later and just enjoy the fact that they had all been smart enough to at least _bring _travel-packs.

'Ah look at my cute little students.' Kakashi chuckled silently.

"Listen up Maggots! First thing's first: you need to know where you stand. Right now, you are about as useful as Maggots, and therefore will be referred to as such. Maybe by the end of our six months together you will have proven yourselves strong enough to earn the title of 'Earthworms,' at which point I will allow you the honor of kissing the ground on which I walk. Am I clear, Team Maggot?"

"Oi! What the hell asshole! There's no w—" Kakashi's fist slammed into Naruto's solar plexus, then his right leg lashed like a whip into Naruto's head and created a rather large dent on Naruto's forehead protector. The young demon container flew back, somersaulting harshly until his momentum was broken against the trunk of a nearby tree. None of the Genin had even been able to see Kakashi close the distance between two.

Sasuke's hand instinctively reached for his kunai pouch, however it was caught in Kakashi's iron-like grip, and the boy was hurled into a tree trunk right next to Naruto. Before Sasuke could even blink Kakashi's fist was imprinting itself in his cheek bone. Then everything went black.

Sakura didn't even have time to scream before Kakashi materialized in front of her. He slapped at her languidly, giving her a chance to escape the strike. However she was too shocked to take advantage of the opening, or even scream, and so met the same fate as her teammates as she was knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly.

The beating had lasted less than 10 seconds, yet all three members of Team Seven had been incapacitated; pathetic. 'Team Maggot', Kakashi corrected himself. He was pretty proud of himself for coming up with that on the spot, although he supposed his Taichou had done something similar to his squad when Kakashi had first joined the ranks of ANBU.

Kakashi walked over to Naruto's passed out form, unzipped his travel-pack and took out the canteen he had given him earlier. Then Kakashi lined the three Genin up and unceremoniously dumped the freezing cold water that had been stored inside the container onto his cute little students' sleeping faces.

"Ahhh!"

"Gah!"

"Eeeeeeeeeek!"

"The first lesson I will teach you," Kakashi began, giving his students no time to earn themselves another beating. "Is that maggots do not suffer alone. You are too small and insignificant to bother discriminating between. Do you understand me, Team Maggot?"

"Hai."

"I said, do you understand me, Team Maggot?"

"Hai Taichou."

"Good. I will not be so gentle the next time."

Naruto scowled. "The hell you will." He muttered under his breath.

"Now that I have your attention, we may begin. I am going to lay out each of your strengths and weaknesses so that you, as well as your teammates, understand them. Then I will explain your role in the unit and in what area's I will be training you. Any questions?"

"Actu—" Sakura began.

"Good. Then let's begin.

"Haruno Sakura. Your ninjutsu is poor. Taijutsu is pathetic. Genjutsu is decent. Decent intelligence as well. Stealth is nonexistent. Strength: poor. Speed: poor. Stamina: poor. Chakra capacity: pathetic. Chakra control…excellent. Sakura will be the team's combat-medic, emphasis on combat. Most of your training will be dedicated towards developing your speed and taijutsu. You will fight hand-to-hand using a combination of precise bursts of chakra to enhance your strength and the B-ranked medical technique Chakra Scalpels to swiftly kill enemy ninja without wasting your reserves. I will also teach you several other basic medical techniques, but I'm not expecting too much on that front. If you can learn to switch seamlessly between your Chakra Scalpels and your burst-strikes, you will have pleased your Taichou. You have shown aptitude for genjustu detection, which I will train you in further.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Your ninjutsu is average. Taijutsu is decent. Genjutsu is decent. Also decent intelligence. Stealth is poor. Strength is poor. Speed is decent. Stamina is poor. Chakra capacity: decent. Poor chakra control. Sasuke will be the team leader. I plan to develop your speed and chakra control, as well as teach you several genjustu, for which the Uchiha clan is renowned. You will learn to manipulate genjustu with the Shamisen in your storage scroll. There is a storage seal on your armguards for easy access and storage of the instrument. You will also improve your repertoire of Katon jutsu, as well as your skills with ninja-wire. Also, we will develop your Sharingan. Once you have activated it I will walk you through some taijutsu kata's which you will be able to practice yourself. Your bloodline will give you a large advantage in the genjutsu realm, however as team leader you need to be proficient in all areas of the ninja arts.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Your ninjutsu: poor. Taijutsu: pathetic. Genjutsu: nonexistent. Intelligence is laughable. Stealth is excellent. Strength is poor. Speed is poor. Stamina is good. Chakra capacity is impressive. Chakra control is nonexistent. Your primary duty will be assassination. Using his stealth to close in on unsuspecting enemies and kill them simultaneously using shadow clones. Your second role will be team-protection. I will teach you several Doton techniques, including Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu, Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu, and Doton: Doryūheki. These techniques will allow you to protect and hide your teammates from enemies' attacks. I will teach you several 'silent kill' techniques with the Tantō, as well as how to use ninja wire to coordinate attacks with Sasuke. Your skill with traps is to be acknowledged, and you will be responsible for taking lead during all trap-related scenarios."

None of the Genin really looked happy about the blunt assessment of their skills. Kakashi couldn't really blame them. But there wasn't enough time for him to coddle these children, he had to turn them into a fearsome combat and assassination squad capable of surviving the Chūnin Exams in Iwa, which Kakashi imagined would be a living hell. His cute little Genin would be surrounded by hundreds of enemy ninja, half of whom, Kakashi speculated, will have been ordered to kill, or at least incentivized to kill, Team Seven. Team Maggot. And it was his job to give them a fighting chance.

The problem was that no child could survive in that environment. And so, in addition to training them, it was Kakashi's duty to destroy Team Maggot's innocence. It was Kakashi's duty to transform them from fresh Genin who had never taken life into cold-hearted killers who wouldn't bat an eyelash at the thought of murdering foreign ninja in their sleep.

"Any questions before we continue?"

"Yeah, wha—"

"Good. Then unseal your storage scroll and put on your uniforms."

"Wait I had a questio—" Naruto was cut off by Kakashi's uppercut smashing into his stomach hard enough to lift Naruto off of the ground. A second later Sasuke and Sakura had also experienced the joy of being punched hard enough to throw up, and Team Maggot hacked up their breakfasts together. It was the first thing Kakashi had seen them do together, and he wondered if he should take a picture to commemorate the touching moment.

"Why are you still on the ground? Did you not hear me; I said unseal the storage scroll and put on your uniforms."

Kakashi was surprised at how quickly they moved. He was always amazed at how well pain motivated people. He would never forget that time Anko…He trailed off, lost in some of the best memories of his youth. However his moment of peace did not last long as a frustrated cry from Naruto threatened to shatter his eardrums.

"Oi! Taichou, what the hell! Where is the orange? Why do we have to wear these ugly things anyways?"

"Naruto shut up! I swear if I get hit again because of you…"

"Ah. Good question Naruto. There is no orange because the color does not blend in well, and will damper your stealth prowess, which is your primary asset as a ninja and as a member of Team Maggot. Those ugly uniforms, you might have noticed, rather closely resemble the uniforms worn by Konoha's ANBU Black Ops."

And it was true. The uniform consisted of a black sleeveless top, black standard shinobi pants, black ninja sandals, a grey flak jacket, ninja gloves that went up to the bicep and unreflective metal armguards. The only thing missing were the masks.

"This resemblance will cast fear into the hearts of your enemies, and proudly mark you three as the pinnacle of Konoha Genin. Wear these uniforms with pride, they are a symbol of the Hokage's belief in your success."

"Yata!" Naruto yelled, obviously excited by Kakashi's answer. The three quickly changed into their respective uniforms, and quickly noticed the differences between each. Naruto's uniform came with a tantō, which was strapped in a vertical holster down his back. Naruto's right armguard had a small black handle protruding from it facing inwards. When he pulled it out with his left hand, it revealed a spool of razor-wire that was obviously strung somewhere inside of the armguard. There were about two feet of wire taut. Its purpose was painfully obvious: garrote or decapitate, depending on the strength of the target's neck. Naruto gulped at the deadly wire, obviously uncomfortable with the thought of using it.

Sasuke's right armguard had a neat storage seal on it, which when activated soundlessly, and without the usual smoke associated with storage seals, summoned a short Shamisen. Sasuke casually plucked a few strings, reservedly inspecting his new tool. In one of his pouches he had ten kunai each attacked to 15 meters of super-fine ninja wire.

Sakura's uniform was standard except for her armguards, which were attached slightly higher on her forearm to allow her more flexibility of the wrist.

Kakashi had given the members of Team Maggot a few minutes to adjust to their new attire, he rather enjoyed the look on Naruto's face when he realized just what the razor wire was for. Kakashi could tell that his cute students were anxious, they were scared, and excited, and a little bit angry too. All of that would fade, Kakashi would make sure of it. There was no room for emotions on the battlefield.

"Let's go." Kakashi said, and began to walk out of the clearing.

"Go where?" Naruto asked.

"To Training Ground 44, the Forest of Death. I'm going to teach you maggots to kill, after all."

Team Maggot gulped in unison.


	3. Chapter 3

First Night

Training Ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death, was approximately 300 kilometers of poisonous plants and man-eating beasts that had somehow been contained by a relatively small and flimsy steel fence. The trees in the training ground were large, even to the standards of Konoha shinobi, and the forest itself was masked in an ominous aura.

The four trekked in complete silence through several other training grounds on the edge of the village to arrive at the Forest of Death. The Inu-masked ANBU seemed to be reading a book of some sort. Sakura was struggling under the added weight of the flak jacket and armguards, and by the time they had arrived at the training ground her breathing was composed of ragged gasps and a few coughs. Naruto spent the entire trip quietly playing with his garrote wire: pulling it taut, releasing it, and then watching it rewind itself into the armguard, repeat. He was mesmerized with a sort of morbid fascination. Sasuke was running through his kunai and shuriken accuracy drills in his head, he wanted to prove to their 'Taichou' that he was the best and therefor was worth all of his attention. The other two could fend for themselves, he needed power.

At one point they had crossed through a training ground from where they could see Team Eight, having a picnic with their sensei. The ANBU officer had forbade them from going over and greeting their fellow Genin. No one complained.

Sakura couldn't help but feel slightly nervous when they finally arrived. After all, watching a man that had already beaten her twice take out a kunai and cut through the locks of the training ground fence didn't really inspire her confidence.

Neither did it inspire her confidence when the aforementioned man pulled out two ropes and proceeded to tie her to her teammates. Strangely enough, none of them commented. Sakura was sure Naruto would have something to say about all of this, yet he was mute. She would have said something herself, but she was too busy trying to get fresh air in her lungs after that hellish walk. She didn't know how her teammates were able to move around in the outfits they had been ordered to wear so easily. It was impossibly hot outside, and the flak jacket was quite heavy.

The ANBU officer had tied them together at the wrist, with Sasuke in the middle. Sakura was on his right and Naruto was on his left. Sakura was too busy catching her breath and too scared of the menacing woods in front of her to even enjoy the fact that she was currently tied to her longtime crush—something that she was sure to brag about to Ino when she got back.

Kakashi took a step back to admire his handiwork. Minato had put Kakashi, Rin, and Obito through a similar exercise when they were first placed on a team together. Of course they had just gone through D-ranked missions around the village, but that was before the war had picked up and they forced on to the front lines. There were no D-ranked missions during times of war. Teamwork was trial by fire.

Nothing brings people closer than going through hell together. And Kakashi planned on providing Team Maggot with just such an environment.

"You three are going to go into the forest and bring me the corpses of three giant tigers. If the rope breaks you three will be punished." Team Maggot gulped, they did not want to know what kind of punishment their crazy Taichou could dish out. "You have until nighfall. Go."

The three set off. Or at least, they tried to set off.

Naruto began at a full sprint, Sasuke at a walk, and Sakura stayed completely still, staring contemplatively at the woods behind the fence. The result was the unceremonious collapse of all three Genin. Kakashi smiled behind his mask. He could imagine Gai going off on a tirade about 'youth' after seeing such a display.

"Naruto you baka!" Sakura yelled, rubbing her shoulder as she got up.

"Heh, sorry Sakura-chan." Naruto flashed her an apologetic smile, before turning his gaze to Sasuke and glaring at the moody boy. Sasuke glared right back.

Sasuke was tempted to inform Sakura that the collapse was just as much her fault as it was Naruto's, but he decided better of it. She had probably already come to that conclusion herself, and was yelling at Naruto to satiate the frustration she felt with herself. Sasuke could tell from the way that Naruto was looking at him that Naruto had come to the same conclusion, and wanted Sasuke to point it out. Naruto might be an idiot, but Sasuke knew first hand that the blond was good at reading people. Sasuke's glare told Naruto that he knew what Naruto wanted, and that no good would come of saying anything.

Sasuke supposed it was because they had both spent the majority of their lives alone that he and Naruto were able to so effectively communicate with each other without a single word. Once they had gone on a camping trip as part of their wilderness survival training for the Academy. Through luck-of-the-draw Naruto and Sasuke had been paired up together. When they got to their campsite, Naruto and Sasuke had only shared a single glance before Naruto went to the river to catch fish while Sasuke gathered tinder and lit the campfire.

Once the entirety of Team Maggot was up and ready to set off Sasuke spoke. "Start at a walk, we need to adjust to being attached like this. I can't do all the work the work this time so you two are going to have to pull your weight." Sasuke really didn't like the idea of taking responsibility for the two idiots he called teammates, unfortunately for him, that was really his only option at this point. Naruto was about as physically strong as him, and their wrists being tied together meant that Sasuke would have to move the weight of Naruto's arm and his own. All three of them had different combat styles, and would be fighting for control of the attached arms instinctively. What was worse was that both of Sasuke's arms were attached to his teammates, whereas both Naruto and Sakura had a free arm, he had none. He would either have to overpower them constantly, or have them relinquish control of one of their arms for his use. Both of these options were unsatisfactory.

Sasuke supposed that this exercise was for his sake, the Inu-masked ANBU was trying to teach him that an effective leader is defenseless unless he has absolute control over his subordinates. Or maybe it was something else, Sasuke could worry about that later. For now, he and his teammates needed to get adjusted to being tied together. If they couldn't figure it out fast, killing a giant tiger wouldn't be their primary concern; it would be survival.

"Asshole." Naruto grunted. Still, he began to walk. Sasuke followed Naruto quickly, synchronizing with his pace. Sakura followed too. The first several steps were awkward, as the natural sway of the Genin's arms was cut short by the tightly tied rope. Sasuke was impressed at how quickly Naruto was able to mirror his walking pattern, allowing their attached arms to swing naturally. Sakura figured it out soon after, and the three were able to walk comfortably.

The forest was alive with the sounds of birds crying, leaves rusting in the gentle breeze overhead, the wild shouts of beasts vying for territory or water or food, the never diminishing feeling of being hunted. All three of them were on edge, all painfully aware of how vulnerable they were. Naruto had never seen a giant tiger before, but if the size of the trees in the dangerous training ground were any indication, they were going to be pretty tough. Naruto would feel anxious about fighting one alone, but being handicapped like this, he couldn't help the nervous sweat that trickled down his cheek and dampened the cloth of his forehead protector. He felt somewhat sorry for Sasuke, he realized that his rival had even less control than he did.

Naruto wouldn't let his teammates die. It didn't matter what he had to do, he wouldn't let them die. Even if Sasuke was an asshole, Naruto would protect him—and then demand Sasuke admit his inferiority, and then Sakura would proclaim her love for him, then Hokage. It was a rock-solid plan. Naruto chuckled to himself, amused by his daydreams, but quickly stopped when he saw his teammates staring at him.

Only they weren't staring at him. They were staring past him, and upon realizing this, Naruto turned and found himself practically face to face with a massive bear. Well, he was actually several meters away from said bear, but he swore he could feel its breath as if it were inches away.

"Shit."

The bear charged.

Immediately Naruto formed the seal for Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and Sasuke formed tiger seal for his Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. Or at least, they both attempted to form the seals for their respective jutsu. They fought for control of their 'shared' arm, and before either side could claim superiority and complete their jutsu the charging bear had reached them and knocked them to the ground with a vicious swipe.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura tumbled to the ground in a tangled mess of limbs. The rope remained firmly in place, much to Naruto's dismay as he had fallen over Sasuke, causing his shoulder to dislocate. Naruto was surprised to find that the bear's claws had not pierced his flak jacket, and that the only injury he had sustained had occurred while falling. Still, the pain of a dislocated shoulder was nothing to laugh at, and Naruto found himself momentarily crippled.

The bear towered over them, it opened its jaw and bared its impressive set of razor-sharp teeth. Naruto tried to dive out of the way of the incoming bite, but Sasuke was immobile on the ground, anchoring Naruto as well, and Naruto's desperate pulling only intensified the pain in his shoulder. Naruto stared death in the face as the bear's mouth enclosed itself on his skull. Naruto felt its slobbering tongue and could feel the points of its teeth piecing the flesh of his cheek and neck.

'So this is death.'

Suddenly, the bear retreated, its teeth pulling off hunks of Naruto's flesh as it reeled back. A kunai was lodged in the bear's left eye. A glance to his right revealed that it was Sakura who had thrown the kunai, and was reaching into her pouch for another. Naruto didn't think twice, he reached into his pouch with his free hand and pulled out a kunai of his own, then charged the still recovering bear with all his might.

He gasped as the pain in his shoulder flared, his momentum had pulled Sasuke and Sakura up from the ground and, through sheer force, untangled them. His dislocated right shoulder carried the weight of his two teammates as he charged. His gasp of pain transformed into a scream of rage.

Naruto stabbed madly at the bear, blood from the wounds on his face had almost completely obstructed his vision, and he was attacking on instinct alone. He stabbed into the bear's neck, pulled his knife out, and then stabbed again. It took him a second to realize that Sasuke and Sakura were stabbing at it as well. Naruto could barely distinguish their cries from his own as they tore at the massive beast's flesh with all their might.

Sasuke called out to Naruto. Naruto didn't understand what Sasuke said, but he found himself reaching towards his limp arm and pulling out the razor wire in a motion that had already become natural for him. Before Naruto could think about what he was doing with the wire he had thrown his left arm over the bear's head then pulled back, locking the wire around the beast's massive neck. Naruto's vision had become completely obstructed at this point, all he could see was the sticky dark red substance that tasted surprisingly like copper.

He pulled the wire taut. He felt the bear's body shake violently, as if it had finally realized death was coming for it. Then it began to flail. Naruto could hear blood gurgling in its throat.

He pulled harder. He noticed that it was Sasuke's arm that kept his own in place, allowing the wire to tighten. He could feel the bear's muscle and tendon tear.

He pulled harder. He was aware that he was still screaming. His voice completely drowned out those of his teammates. Had they forgotten the lust of battle?

He pulled harder still. Sasuke must have noticed that his shoulder had been dislocated, he was hitting Naruto's arm as if he were trying to relocate it.

Naruto pulled harder still. He heard a shout, incomprehensible nothings, they were drowned out by the heat of battle.

He pulled harder.

He heard a sickening pop, then a wail and whimper, then the shouting again. It was his name.

Naruto. Naruto. Naruto!

"NARUTO!" Sasuke shouted.

Naruto stopped. He dropped his hold on the surprisingly loose wire and couldn't help but relish in the satisfied feeling that he got whenever it rewound itself. Naruto waited until he heard the little 'click' that finally announced that his wire was all the way back into place. He looked at Sasuke, but he couldn't see anything. Then he remembered the blood, and began to wipe away at his eyes with his free hand. He blinked several times and was taken aback when he finally saw the dark expression on Sasuke's face.

Then he remembered the bear. He looked down and immediately wished he hadn't. Separated from the rest of its body, the bear's head rested on the ground, its visage contorted in agony. There was blood everywhere. There was blood on the ground, on Sasuke, on himself. On Sakura.

Sakura had fallen to her knees. She was covering her face, Naruto absently noted. Naruto stared at Sakura in complete silence for what could have been either years or a few seconds. Each of Sakura's sobs reminded Naruto of something, he wasn't quite sure what. It was like every muffled cry was a knock on the door. The door to what? He wondered. Sasuke was staring at him too. They were still very close.

Then he remembered the pain. As his adrenalin faded, the fiery pain in his shoulder returned tenfold. Naruto growled and clutched at the aching joint. Sasuke, the dark expression still on his face, gently lifted Sakura up to her feet.

"We have to relocate Naruto's shoulder. We are going to run at that tree, Naruto, try to hit the very top of your shoulder on the trunk."

Naruto nodded, not quite understanding what was happening, but his body moved on its own. Sakura seemed to have shaken herself out of whatever had come over her.

The three took a second to compose themselves.

Then, without any indication, they began running at the designated tree in unison.

It took two tries before Naruto's shoulder finally popped back into place.

Naruto gave his teammates a nod of affirmation, then they left in silence. Behind them the corpse of the decapitated bear had attracted hordes of flies, who had quickly set to laying eggs in its rapidly festering flesh. It was tacit that they would never speak of what had happened there. Each of them had failed in their own way, shown weakness that they did not want anyone to know of. Sakura with her tears, Sasuke with his freezing up, and Naruto with his losing himself in the heat of battle. They had seen a side of each other that no one else had. Naruto understood that this was the true beginning of them as a team. Team Maggot.

They walked for two hours without another incident, before finally reaching the river that split the training ground. It was a sound plan, Naruto supposed. Wait for the tigers to come drink, then attack them while their back was turned and their guard was down.

There was only one problem. The training ground was huge, there was no way to guarantee that any tigers would come to the spot they were at, let alone three—the quota set by their draconian Taichou.

"Ne, Sasuke-teme, I like the whole attack them while they are drinking idea, but how are we supposed to get three tigers just waiting like this? I mean, this place is huge and there isn't any guarantee that any tigers will come here at all."

"That isn't the plan dobe." Sasuke replied.

"We are each going to make as many Bunshin as we can, then henge them into dear. We send the deer into the forest and act as 'prey' for the tigers. Have them move in large circles, always coming back to the river and leaping into the water after each loop."

Sakura immediately understood where he was going. "The tigers will chase the 'deer' into the water of the river. Once they are in the water, they will be defenseless and we can easily kill them."

"Oh." Naruto had to admit, that was pretty smart. However there was a pretty glaring flaw with Sasuke's plan. "What about the corpses, we are supposed to bring them back, right? It's going to be pretty damn hard to get the bodies out of the water, especially when we are tied together like this."

Sasuke just looked at Naruto and smirked. "Easy, while our Bunshin go out attracting tigers, we cut down a branch and use it as a dam. Because the tigers' bodies will float, all we have to do is lay a log across the river bank and let it stop the bodies from moving. When we have gotten all three, we can just lift the log up and let the current carry the corpses out of the training ground while we walk next to them. When we get out of the training ground, we just put the log back into the river, then fish the bodies out." Normally, Naruto would have grit his teeth at the satisfied smirk on Sasuke's face, but after the incident with the bear his smirk was actually kind of relieving. It told Naruto that things would go back to normal. Furthermore, it wasn't a bad plan.

"Hai, let's do this!" Naruto nodded at Sasuke and Sakura and brought his hands up to form the seal for Kage Bunshin, just as Sasuke brought up his hands to form the seal for Bunshin, just as Sakura brought up her hands to from the same seal. The result was utter failure.

"Okay you two first." Sasuke said, hoping to resolve the issue before an argument broke out. He could tell his teammates were on edge, hell, he was on edge himself. Naruto and Sakura nodded, then formed their respective hand seals.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" Sakura created three perfect clones, then henged them simultaneously into rather majestic dear.

"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The woods were suddenly full of Narutos. There were at least one hundred blond demon-containers grinning at each other. A second later and they had all transformed into rather sickly looking dear, some more closely resembling abominations of nature rather than any actual animal.

Sasuke coughed, taken about by the sheer number of clones Naruto had created. And what was a shadow clone exactly? Sasuke had never heard of that technique, and he was sure Naruto hadn't learned it in the Academy. He was pretty sure Naruto hadn't learned anything in the Academy.

"On second thought, that should be enough clones." Sasuke said. He didn't fail to notice the satisfied look on Naruto's face. "We will hide in the roots of that tree, when a tiger comes I want each of you to throw one of these at it," Sasuke handed each of them one of his kunai with ninja-wire connecting them to a metal anchor in his pouch. "Wait until it gets into the water, and use your outside hands, I'll use a Katon jutsu, which will follow the wire, to kill it. If that isn't enough, wait for it to try to get out of the water, then we will charge it and Naruto will garrote it while Sakura and I aim for its eyes."

Saukra was pretty impressed with Sasuke's plan, he had really thought the whole situation out. She felt pretty weak in comparison to her two teammates. Even Naruto had proven himself to be pretty strong—he had cut the head clean off of that bear! She shuddered at the memory. Then he had created ten-fold as many clones as she could make. And Sasuke was just well…Sasuke. He was the rookie of the year, and he was cool, and able to come up with brilliant solutions so fast. Sakura didn't really have anything to offer her team.

Sakura's train of thought was interrupted by a tremendous roar coming from the woods behind them. Just then, one of the sickly 'Naruto deer' leapt out from the foliage and sprinted faster than Sakura thought was possible towards the water. A half second later a giant tiger followed it.

The tiger was twice as tall as her on all fours, and was far bulkier than any animal had the right to be. Each of its teeth were the size of her hand, and looked as if they had been formed for the sole purpose of rending tissue from bone. The creature madly snarled at the fleeing deer, charging towards its prey at an impossible speed.

The tiger was inches away from sinking its teeth into the deer's neck when the slender animal leaped into the water. The tiger followed it in without a second thought. Its snout snapped shut around the 'deer' which was split in half like a twig before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Go!" Sasuke shouted.

Sakura and Naruto simultaneously threw their kunai into the face of the huge tiger, thrashing in the deep river water. Sakura's kunai landed in the tiger's nostril, while Naruto's clipped the underside of its neck. Sakura had to force her left arm to go limp as she felt Sasuke pull it up to his face to form the hand seals for his jutsu. It was an odd feeling to have someone else control your arm like that, and Sakura could tell that the extra weight bothered Sasuke and slowed the formation of his hand seals.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

A giant ball of fire shot at the now frantic animal. The tiger was obviously under extreme duress. It could swim, although was extremely uncomfortable in the water as the liquid nullified its extreme agility—the trait it relied on most heavily to survive in the dangerous forest. Sakura watched in awe as the fire crawled down the wire and lit the tiger's face aflame.

Its pained cries sounded oddly human.

The tiger flailed more and more desperately. Then it stopped. Its body became unnaturally still and it no longer resisted the flames that consumed its face and back, the only parts above water.

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto stared at the lifeless corpse. It was hard to believe that their plan had worked out so smoothly. It was also hard to stomach how human the tiger had seemed when it was thrashing in the river. Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat. Today had already proven itself to be the longest day of her life, and it wasn't even noon yet.

It took them a minute to realize that the tiger was slowly being pulled down the river by the current.

"Shit." Sasuke said. They hadn't had time to set up, or even find, a log to dam the river with.

"I got this." Naruto announced. He exchanged a glance with Sasuke and the dark haired boy relinquished control over his left hand to allow Naruto to form the seal for his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Twenty clones popped into existence and wasted no time in jumping into the river, where they formed a human dam by linking arms.

Both Sasuke and Sakura were shocked to see that their teammate had managed to create solid clones.

"Naruto, how did you learn that technique?" Sakura asked.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and smiled at her sheepishly. "Eh, it's a long story."

"Oh."

"Can we sit down or something, I'm hungry."

"How can you eat after that?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, I'm hungry." He smiled back at her and she sighed.

"We have to catch lunch first dobe."

Naruto just smiled smugly at Sasuke as he reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out a packet of instant ramen. Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped.

"Well, we still have to catch lunch."

Naruto just reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out two more packets of ramen. Sasuke couldn't help the playful smirk that spread across his face.

"Baka." He said, although there was no malice behind it.

They cooked the ramen in their water canteens. Sasuke had lit some tinder with a small Katon technique, and they had cooked their meals in tranquil silence. Sakura thought it was strange how their silence had changed so much in just a day. That morning, on the way to the training ground, it had been strained, dangerous even. Now the silence felt calm and comfortable.

It was late afternoon before the next tiger appeared. This one noticed the corpse of its fellow beast in the water and stopped on the edge of the river bank.

"Shit."

"We don't have a choice. Go!"

The tiger had turned at the sound of their voices and was facing them.

This time, Team Maggot acted simultaneously. Naruto and Sakura each threw the kunai attached to ninja wire with their outside arms while completely relaxing their inside arms so that Sasuke could perform his Katon technique.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" The technique hit the rapidly approaching tiger less than a second after the kunai had hit. Naruto's had hit the beast's front leg, while Sakura's had impacted the side of the tiger's face, just behind its blade-like whiskers.

The tiger charged right through the flame and closed the distance between itself and Team Maggot in seconds.

"Jump!" Sasuke commanded, and the three Genin leapt back simultaneously. Only the length of their leaps differed dramatically, and once again Team Maggot was sent sprawling to the ground in a tangled mess. The tiger took a second to shake itself furiously, generating enough force to blow the flames off of its now scorched fur.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura slowly stood up, and took up a defensive position. The massive tiger eyed them for a second before leaping into the air landing behind them.

"Holy shit." Naruto swore. That thing had just jumped at least 10 meters like it was nothing.

"Wire." Sasuke said.

The three Genin moved as one. Sprinting towards the beast, who bared its teeth at the approaching youth and swiped at them with a surprisingly fast paw.

"Down!" The three ducked under the swipe and without second thought latched onto the oversized tiger.

Naruto flung his garrote wire over the beast's neck, then pulled it taut in what had become an uncomfortably familiar motion. Sasuke and Sakura clung to the beast's shoulders, stabbing at its neck with their shared arm, both holding onto the same kunai. Sasuke's hand was on the grip tape while Sakura pushed on the butt of the kunai with all her might, driving it even further into the ligaments and muscle on the tiger's neck. Naruto had poisoned himself behind the tiger, squeezing on the creatures sides with his knees to keep himself in place as he pulled the garrote wire ever tighter.

The oversized cat leaped into the air in a panicked attempt to free itself from the onslaught of Team Maggot. Unfortunately for it, the three Genin remained, and the leaping motion had only further driven the razor-wire into the beast's neck, finally severing its jugular.

With a final gurgled call, the tiger collapsed to the ground.

The feline had fallen on top of Sasuke and Sakura and Naruto had to push the lifeless body off of them—which was no small feat in itself. The three Genin were caked in blood, dirt, saliva, and other substances Naruto didn't want to recognize. As the Sasuke and Sakura were standing up the tiger released its bowels. Sakura stared in horror. Sasuke looked disgusted. Naruto just contemplated what he had just witnessed. Then he broke out into laughter. Soon, Sakura joined him with a symphony and even Sasuke was chuckling.

The final tiger came an hour later. It was young and undersized. It died after Sakura's kunai pierced its brain, hitting straight between its eyes. The following fireball was just overkill.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were exhausted after carrying the corpses of the massive tigers back to their Taichou from the spot where the river had exited the training ground. Well, to be accurate, the three of them had carried the smallest tiger while Naruto's shadow clones took care of bringing the other two, much larger, tigers.

They had returned to find that the ANBU officer standing exactly where he had been when they had first left for the forest. He paused as he saw them, then looked at the sky. It was dusk, and the sun painted the sky with gorgeous hues of violet, orange, and yellow. The setting sun casting diving outlines on the underside of the low-hovering clouds that decorated the horizon.

"Good," was all he said. "We sleep here for the night, set up camp."

"Um, Taichou," Sakura began. "What about the Tigers?"

"Oh yeah, those. Well, I don't need them, do whatever you want with them."

Naruto grit his teeth but didn't dare speak up. He knew that their bastard of a sensei would just beat them all if he commented. But still, it hardly felt fair. Why did those tigers have to die? It didn't make sense. He remembered the pained cries, the look of hopeless in their eyes when they finally accepted death. What was the point of it?

He felt Sasuke's hand on his shoulder and looked up. That was strange, he hadn't even felt Sasuke cut the rope. Sasuke had that same dark expression on his face from earlier. Naruto met his gaze, then began to set up tents. Sasuke left to catch some food and Sakura went to gather tinder for a fire.

Sasuke returned soon with a rabbit, which was then staked and roasted over the fire. Team Maggot ate in silence.

The three Genin retired to their respective tents, though it was hours before any of them would catch any sleep.

It had been a terrifying day. They had faced death, and killed, only to satisfy their bastard Taichou. Naruto took comfort in the thought that at least it couldn't get any worse.

If only he knew.


End file.
